Top Tips

Too often annual business plans are so wordy they get stuck in a drawer, or there are too many things that need attending to that the business owner gets overwhelmed and struggles to execute the plan. Or the ideas are so hidden in words that they get lost. The reality is that 12 months is ...

If you’ve been following my 6 Pillars to Business Success Series, you’ll know that the first two pillars require you to have a product that matches a need in the market and is unique enough to carve a niche in that market and you need think about and plan for a business model that will ...

So you have a great product or service. You know there’s a need for it out there, you’ve defined your customers and your market (if not refer to Article 1 in the Pillars To Business Success Series). You may well have proven just how great your offer is, with consistent sales under the belt. But ...

Nearly 5 years ago now, after selling my last business, I accidentally fell into being a business mentor. I found myself speaking at business networks, telling my story about how I went from being an advertising copywriter to creating and ultimately selling my own advertising agency… the approach I took, how I planned the sale ...

When it comes to business success, there is an underlying trait that every smart entrepreneur has – not just the ability to have a good idea, create a business, to set a vision and dream a dream – but the ability to see it through.
One of the biggest personality disorders I see among business owners ...

You cannot build a great business without a team. And you can’t build a high performance team without a great team culture. Like branding, company culture is another misunderstood and undervalued success factor in business.
As soon as you start employing people you have a need for a great culture. Again, the biggest and best companies ...

In my view, branding is one is the most misunderstood and least valued weapons an entrepreneur has on the road to success.
To be blunt, I think one if the biggest differences between really successful entrepreneurs and small business thinkers is their commitment to having a powerful brand. If customers love your brand and your teams ...

One of the biggest obstacles to increasing business value is the dependency of that business on its owner. And an even bigger danger is the unwillingness of a business owner to let go.
Something I often hear people say is that their business is their baby. But it’s not.
Your business is not your baby. Which leads me ...

When I did a plan to start my own advertising agency I knew right from the start that I was building it to sell it within 10 years. And I knew that the likely buyer would be a multi-national agency group. I even wrote down what I wanted to sell it to them for. I ...

Here it is … key 2 of my 8 keys to a bigger, better business. These keys are aimed at ambitious business owners, those looking to create something of significant value both in terms of what you offer and in terms of what your business is ultimately worth financially. Getting bigger and better isn’t necessarily easy, ...

Over the next 8 blogs I’m going to share my 8 keys (from my own experience and from observations gleaned by interviewing a myriad of successful entrepreneurs) to a bigger, better business and I’m going to invite you to think about each key, with an exercise to complete before the next key appears.
Key number one: Be ...

As a business mentor I often get asked my opinion on the validity of a particular decision. Should I open a new regional office? Should I hire a sales person? Should I bring on more partners into the business? Should I invest $50,000 in a new brand? Should we launch a new product? Should we ...

Ok here comes another rant. Something else I feel PASSIONATE enough to SHOUT ABOUT IT. Today’s outpouring is about your brand… and why if you seriously want to grow, you must take this subject very seriously indeed.
I do believe the power of a company’s brand is the single most misunderstood and under appreciated aspect of ...

I don’t have time to write this blog. But I can’t sit at my desk in integrity and not write it. Because I’ve owned a number of businesses and I have been to the dark side. And when my mission is to set business owners free, I can’t ignore the black hole that seems to ...

My early mentor in business was Robert Kiyosaki. I studied with him all around the world, long before he wrote the Rich Dad Poor Dad books. One day, at his business school in Hawaii I was sitting next to him at dinner. We were talking about finding your life purpose and building a business around ...

If every business owner started their business knowing it was meant to be an asset not a job, we would be a nation of wealthy entrepreneurs and one of the leading economies in the world. My mission is to help every business owner I come into contact with grow a business as it should be… ...

The Liber8 team held a powerful workshop a few weeks ago. Twelve people in a room had the courage to look at their mindset around money, wealth and business. On their feedback sheet after the workshop, 80% of them mentioned the realisation that a business should be an asset not a job, and the keys to ...

If you have a few minutes, take a look at this interview with me on TVNZ Good Morning show earlier this week. To be honest I was quite thrown by the questions asked. I had expected it to be a jolly chat about my book, with a view to inspiring some talented mums at home ...

There are only two things I look for when it comes to choosing a business owner I want to work with, or who I invite to join my mentoring programmes. If I see these two things I know this business owner has a chance at building something amazing – with a little guidance, a lot of ...

Before you read this blog please take a moment to watch this quick video about Kathleen Turner of Tate’s Bake Shop – the story of a woman who lost it all then rebuilt it – with major success.
I love how towards the end of the video, Kathleen King talks about the reason for success behind ...

I had an interesting debate on Linked In recently after I posted my blog “Some frightening statistics about small business” onto a discussion group. I thought my point was that if more small business owner operators were inspired and equipped to grow a valuable asset rather than settle for a low paying job, our economy would be ...

My mantra for small business owners is simple: Don’t create a job, build yourself an asset. When you own a business you have the opportunity right there in your hands to build something that can create financial security for you in the future. You are going to work hard anyway, why waste this valuable time ...

Guest story with Mike Brunel
How did we take a small Wellington based radio sales consultancy business and turn it into a global success story servicing 400 worldwide markets and selling to 320,000 people? It all started with a Dictaphone. In the early days we worked out that we could show radio media companies how to ...

As anyone who has worked with me will tell you, I’m an avid fan of branding. I look at a client’s brand and ask myself, does it tell me something exciting, original and impactful about their business? Does it set the foundation for everything the business stands for? Does it place them instantly a head ...

Why do customers leave?
Guest blog by Mike Brunel.
I am continually asked why my advertisers leave me after a few campaigns. I do not think for one moment that has not happened to you. It has me, several times, and every time it does I learn something.
As a business owner why do your clients leave you? ...

I’ve interviewed many wealthy entrepreneurs as part of my mentoring programmes, always seeking to find out what makes them so successful. How do they build businesses that achieve such growth and generate such great financial returns? The number one trait that comes through without exception is their ability to look into the future and see ...

If you are serious about selling your business one day, it’s important to have a good idea who might want to buy it. Imagine spending 10 years building a business you intend to sell only to realise you have created something nobody wants to buy. If you build a business with a buyer in mind, ...

A successful angel investor friend explained to me the concept of exit strategy like this:
To achieve a successful exit, it helps to view your business as a product. A good business person empathises with their customer and understands their reasons for buying your product. You know what need your product fulfils in the market ...

It’s that time of year when you should be working on your business plan for the next financial year. Please, please, please tell me you do a plan each year? You simply cannot succeed in business unless you take it seriously and understand the game of business itself.
I encourage my clients and readers to observe ...

Everyone is always telling you what you should do to be successful in business. I thought for a change, I’d tell you (based on my own bitter/sweet experiences) some of the things you really shouldn’t do. Here are my top nine DON’TS when it comes to being successful in business:
1. DON’T start or continue a ...

In my latest book, The Liber8 Disciplines, I’m working with HR consultant Antonia Haythornthwaite on the key strategies to build a high performance team. Antonia advises that you find out what key factors motivate a particular individual and then use these to encourage the best performance from this person. Knowing what motivates an individual and ...

In sales you should be listening for 80% of the time and talking for 20%. If you ask the right questions, you will find out your prospect’s real needs and find a way to sell your product/service as the solution. When selling, follow the steps below with every question:
Ask
Listen
Re-affirm (show that you’ve heard what they ...

Here’s something I tell business owners all the time… “your business is like a shed”.
Whaaaat??!!
Read on for the explanation…
If I asked you to build a shed, what would you do? You would do what you do with any project, right? You’d get a picture of what the shed is supposed to look like. You’d look ...

Businesses do not typically sell by accident. The owners that end up selling their business for a significant amount of money have usually been preparing for that day for some time. You don’t have to be thinking about selling your business any time soon to start planning now for the day when you might want ...

As part of my Liber8me business mentoring programmes, I spend time interviewing successful business people. My key criteria for selecting an interview subject is that the person must have built and sold at least one successful business, which has created wealth and freedom of choice for them. I ask what they believe are the key ...

Here’s an excerpt from my book Liber8 your Business… a very useful tip when it comes to planning a business that will attract a buyer in the future:
A successful angel investor friend explained to me the concept of exit strategy like this: To achieve a successful exit, it helps to view your business as a ...

This is an excerpt from my book Liber8 your Business: The revolutionary business planning technique that will set every small business owner free. It’s such an important point when it comes to building a valuable, saleable business, I thought I’d share it in today’s blog:
How to command a premium price when selling your business:
Your reputation ...

I’ve recommended to three different clients in the past week that they undertake a client and prospect survey to find out what’s really going on with their business. Each of these clients has different challenges but each will be able to make better decisions by asking the people they are trying to reach.
I was in ...

I talk with small business owners every day and there are two words I hear all the time: “busy” and “exhausted”. It’s a common ailment of the business owner operator. I’m sure you know how it feels.
So how can you look after yourself and try to minimize that feeling of overwhelm that sometimes feels like ...

Almost exactly a year ago today (11 September 2012) I wrote a blog tip entitled ‘Watch for changing paradigms’ (click to read it). At the time I was crafting that blog, the Board and management team at BlackBerry would have already been sweating buckets round the Board table about the paradigm shifting under their feet. I ...

Bula from Fiji! I’m enjoying a quick solo break, just to re-charge my batteries (which by the way is something every business owner should do on a regular basis… even if you don’t have time – no wait, especially if you don’t have time).
On my ride from Nadi airport to my hotel I met a ...

You might think failure doesn’t enter the vocabulary of successful people. But willingness to fail is a key criterion for success. Here’s an unavoidable truth about business – you’re going to fail in your business at some stage. You will probably do some really dumb things and at times you may feel like an idiot. ...

I’ve noticed when I’m working with clients that my greatest wisdom and biggest ‘aha’ moments come when I’m sharing a story about something really dumb that I did. I think it was Winston Churchill who said ‘life is too short to learn from all your own mistakes’. In business, I’ve made plenty and one of ...

Here’s another extract from my very soon to be released book, Liber8 Your Business… talking about the critical factors of the ‘build-to-sell’ model (note, in this chapter in the book I talk about 3 models). I cannot stress enough how important it is to starting thinking about this NOW rather than when it’s too late. ...

There are some fundamental truths about owning a business that apply regardless of what you are selling. One of these is something I’m not sure every business owner realizes when they set out – business is not an easy ride. And like the Superman ride at Movie World, it is not for the faint hearted!
There ...

I just watched this amazing speech from Steve Jobs when he knew he was going to die. It moved me as I expect it will you. Watch it by clicking link below then come back and tell me what you think.
http://youtu.be/a5SMyfbWYyE
Understanding freedom and how important it is to us as human beings is becoming an ...

Over the past two years I have interviewed over forty successful entrepreneurs. My criteria for an interview subject is that they must have built and sold at least one successful business. Many of them have been serial entrepreneurs – having created more than one business and learned many lessons along the way.
As I’ve talked to ...

I’m working with a number of small businesses at the moment. All are committed to growth and as such are bringing on new staff members to ensure this growth can happen. All have accepted that as owners they must let go of certain aspects of their business to allow them to focus on the really ...

Recently I interviewed Shane Bradley – former owner of GrabOne and founder of new online retailer pet.co.nz. Shane’s top tip for small business owners was this: “if you’re not making mistakes, you’re not trying hard enough”. He told me about his first business, which went under due to bad debts. It was humiliating and humbling he ...

Here’s another extract from my book… to be launched late July…
A business or a life-long job?
‘Successful and unsuccessful people do not vary greatly in their abilities. They vary in their desires to reach their potential.’
– John Maxwell
One of the first questions I ask when I present to business groups is: ‘Why are you here? ...

Last week I interviewed Ernst & Young’s 2012 Young Entrepreneur of the Year, Dr Sam Hazledine. His business Medrecruit was started from nothing six years ago and has featured for the past four consecutive years in the Deloitte Fast 50, as well as winning Westpac Business Excellence Medium-Large
Business 2012.
Among other things I asked Sam what he thought stopped ...

At the end of each year you should be working less in your business than you were at the end of the year before. This objective is something that’s missing in typical business plans and yet your goal towards freedom should always focus on leverage, leverage, leverage.
Here’s a definition of ‘leverage’ I found online at ...

Another great sales tip from guest entrepreneur Mike Brunel
With the cost of acquiring new customers mounting, many companies’ customer bases are shrinking, due to loss of confidence of advertisers and consumers alike.
What you will learn in this month’s Sales tip is the secret to understanding the power of client’s referrals.
Referrals are often one way to ...

I’ve been feeling a bit down on myself in last day or so. Self doubt can creep in when you least expect it. So it absolutely made my day to return to my emails to find this waiting for me… from my Liber8 Tip Exchange, a tip from a wonderful entrepreneur that reminded me why ...

No problem with the marketing vision for the folk at Specsavers. Not only do they have a very funny ad campaign – the ‘Should’ve gone to Specsavers’ series (my favourite is the father on the finishing line of school kids running race where he thinks the kid who comes first is his and goes crazy ...

You will know by now (if you’ve been reading my blogs or regular column in NZ Business Magazine; attending my talks or just following my random comments on Facebook or Twitter) that I am a dedicated believer in the power of forward planning. To succeed you must have a clear goal and a plan to ...

In my last tip I was pretty tough on us entrepreneurial types, stating boldly that if our employees were under performing it was our fault not theirs. I do believe this is true in very many cases, although of course not all. Some employees do simply suck and I’ll talk more about this in future ...

This morning it dawned on me that I haven’t been employed by someone now since 1990, when I left my job as an advertising copy writer. That’s 22 years of fending for myself! I realised that not only am I totally unemployable now, but that I’ve also become quite wise in certain areas.
One of these ...

Do you believe your beliefs can change the way your life works? I certainly do. The following 10 beliefs come from an article I just read at inc.com written by Geoffrey James and I was encouraged to see that I subscribe to these pretty much on a daily basis. What about you?
10 powerful positive beliefs
I ...

I had a big shock last week on my way back from Tonga. Upon the recommendation of a client I called into see a dentist for a second opinion on my troublesome tooth. The dentist was Dr Loy at the Caring4smiles practice in Epsom. After one hour with him I had committed to spending the ...

I’m off to Tonga and shutting down for 7 days. Boy do I need it! My book is off being given the serious eye by someone who promises to be cynical. I think this is a good thing! I’ve been getting up at 5am and working late for 8 months now to get the first ...

You cannot be shy and be in business. If you are going to build a business that someone will ultimately pay a large sum of money for, you cannot afford for your business to blend with the wallpaper. You have to put your business out there and make sure it is seen. You have to ...

Welcome to guest entrepreneur and salesman extraordinaire Mike Brunel for some more of his always useful tips on sales. Enjoy…
1. Create a sales culture– In Laura’s upcoming book she talks about creating a great sales culture- it has to however begin with you changing your mind set around being committed to turning your company into ...

For me, there are only two reasons why you would be in business for yourself: to make money and to make a difference.
1. Making money
“Being good in business is the most fascinating kind of art. Making money is art and working is art and good business is the best art”. Andy Warhol
Business is a financial ...

To build wealth and freedom from your business, you need a certain mindset. You must have the willingness and ability to see yourself totally free from the need to work for a living. And you have to believe that your business is your major wealth creation tool and your ticket to the life of your ...

Ok Ok, enough already! But I have a point to make (of course) and that is this… you cannot succeed in business without the persistence chip well and truly embedded in your body. I will use one oldie but very goodlyy example of how persistence pays off and then I’ll set you a challenge for the week.
My ...

Here’s another excerpt from my very nearly finished book:
I’ll quickly tell you this story about my father. He died at age 73. Which seems far too young these days, when most of us hope to live well into our eighties. The good news was that he retired not long after his fiftieth birthday, so he’d had 23 years of ...

This tip comes directly from my book in progress, from the chapter on sales written together with Mike Brunel (www.talkingmediasales.com).
When someone says ‘no’ you can tell yourself that what they are really saying is that they want to ‘know’ more. What they are really telling you is that you haven’t convinced them yet. Maybe you ...

This tip comes to you from Antonia Haythornthwaite of Blue Dot Human Resources http://bluedot.co.nz/
Once you’ve made the decision to employ people you need to ensure you can get the best possible performance out of them. Antonia outlines four key elements that need to be in place
1. Skills, Knowledge and Talents. If you’ve followed the recruitment ...

Good marketing is about being very clear who it is you are trying to sell to. It’s about knowing your target audience well. If possible get inside their minds and learn the triggers that will motivate them. The more insights you have about your potential customers the better.
Discovering insights doesn’t have to be difficult. At ...

This was one of the slides at my talk to the Bubbles & Inspiration audience last night. My point being that sometimes to get ahead in life you have to ask for things, even if it seems far too bold an ask. My example was when I was a secretary in an advertising agency in ...

Just finished the chapter in my book with the same heading, so thought an abbreviated version of this would make a great tip.
As you know, my advertising agency went from zero to billings over $15 million within nine years. To achieve this we had to win some pretty big pieces of business, often coming from ...

Ok Ok I admit it… this is not my quote. It’s a “Facebookism”. When smooching around Google looking for inspirational business stories (as I do) I stumbled across this blog entitled “Sh*t Facebook employees say” by Josh Levin.
The blog outlines some things learned about Facebook from their recent IPO filing. Along with all the accounting and legal information there were ...

Just finished Chapter 16 of The Liber8 Factor – how to hire people you never want to fire. Some awesome tips thanks to my good friend Lindsay Jackson who has already built and sold two very successful recruitment companies and is now onto her third. Lindsay lives and breathes recruitment so I’m taking her tips ...

Have you ever had a day when you wake up wondering what on earth you are doing? Being positive, visionary and inspired all the time can be exhausting. Sometimes you just feel small, insignificant and just plain tired. I had a week like this recently. Some tough stuff happened and my resolve to live a happy, ...

There is no doubt. As a business owner you will have tough decisions to make. Sometimes it might feel this is almost on a daily basis. Should you invest in that overseas training right now? Should you bring on that next staff member? Should you re-brand now or wait until next year?
There is a regular ...

By Jody Worsfold, Chief Cupid, Romantic Gestures
I once heard the saying, you can’t sell a secret. With that in mind I set out with a mission to tell Kiwi couples about my business; Romantic Gestures.
Romantic Gestures has a big heart and a small budget so the key for me was to reach many people for ...

I got up at 3.30am because my mind was going crazy. I couldn’t sleep so I got up to work on my book. Couldn’t resist a quick peek at Facebook and came across this www.colorology.com It’s a site from Pantone* which tells you your personal birth colour and how this reflects your personality. I know, I know… flakey ...

Thankfully successful business people don’t wear tights and cape, get dressed in a phone box or fly through the air. But I think all of us in business have business super heroes out there who we truly admire. Those who have shown us greatness, not just in their business success, but in who they are as people.
I’ve been thinking ...

I was up at the crack of dawn to work on my book again this morning. The chapter I’m working on is called “Driving value through your brand” and I find myself studying the great brands of our time to demonstrate some of the points I’m making. You can’t really write a chapter on branding ...

What values do you think of when you see this symbol – the logo for Mercedes Benz? Quality and luxury right? You know what this brand stands for just from its logo. Just like you know that a swoosh tick logo stands for a just do it attitude. Right?
Do you know why this is? Because these ...

I stumbled across this blog by Marcus Sheridan whilst exploring tips for blogging… thought I’d share it with you. Here’s the link:
http://www.thesaleslion.com/qualities-best-business-blogs-world/
From the desk of liber8yourbusiness. Business mentors and experts in small business exit strategies. Based in Wellington, New Zealand.

Over coffee sometime last year a senior partner in a big accountancy firm told me what he believed made the difference between business owners who succeed and business owners who do not.
You guessed it. Discipline.
He said he sees every sort of business, in all shapes and sizes. He sees them come and he sees them ...

There’s nothing as satisfying in life as the achievement of a goal (Except perhaps a nice cold glass of rose on a summer’s day!). Seriously… making progress in life, regardless of what you are trying to achieve, is made all the more meaningful if you are achieving what you set out to achieve. But I can ...

I thoroughly enjoyed having coffee with Glenn Baker, editor of NZBusiness Magazine yesterday. We shared lots of business ideas and thoughts about how we can work together to help small businesses succeed. Glenn gave me a tip to share and as obvious as it is, you always need to look deep in your heart and ...

Just some numbers to think about. What is your margin? And how many/how much do you need to sell for your business to truly make great profit for you after normalised expenses? What’s the population of New Zealand? And what % of the population might want your product? Are you going to make it happen ...

Just spent two days at a course on doing business in China run by New Zealand Trade & Enterprise. It was a fantastic two days, run by a very good presenter called Amy Adams, an American living in China, teaching Kiwis how to do business there. Loved it and learned heaps. Highly recommend the course.
There ...

I’ll keep the tips even more simple today. Facebook’s mission is ‘to make the world more open and connected’… what’s yours?
If you are following my blogs with any regularity you will know I am mad keen on all businesses having a purpose and a mission. They are much the same thing… a reason for being ...

A simple tip today. Just some advice I have a very good friend as he left for the airport today. How do you take your business to the next level? Work out a plan… for new business, for growing existing clients, for building the best team, for keeping your margins as high as possible…. then…. ...

Look out for regular guest mentor tips from now on as I call upon experts from all specialist fields of business to share their top tips with you. Today I welcome these tips on sales from one of the best sales people I know, Mike Brunel.
10 things you need to know about sales this week….
1. Everyone ...

http://youtu.be/cwmRIIQk6Qc
“Do good, have fun and the money will come”. So says Sir Richard Branson. We are in the new era of business, where the lines between work and purpose are merging into one. Where all businesses need to be thinking about how they can become a force for good. I love this. Take a look ...

Here’s a quote from Abraham Lincoln:
“How many legs does a dog have if you call a tail a leg? Four. Calling a tail a leg doesn’t make it a leg.”
In other words, don’t kid yourself you are something you are not. In business it’s all too easy for us to convince ourselves everything is alright. ...

I love the famous story about IBM story from the 1960s. An executive at the company made a decision that ended up losing the company $10 million. He was summoned to the office of formidable CEO, Tom Watson. As he cowered, Watson asked, “Do you know why I’ve asked you here?” The executive replied, “I ...

Being in business can make you a real ‘yes’ man/woman. Yes to any new business that comes your way. Yes to whatever your demanding clients demand of you. Yes to the staff member who needs a day off on your busiest day of the year. But remember, good business is about quality. You want quality ...

Whatever is going on in your business, when it comes to your public face, you need to talk it up at all times. Never let the outside world know you are having a bad patch. All businesses have rough times, when sales are down and cashflow is tight, when staff are leaving and stress is ...

I think Bob Dylan said it best, “The times they are a changing”… and ironically this fundamental truth hasn’t changed. Change is inevitable, I’m sure you are aware of it yourself… how fast things are changing these days. Just look at social media, just when you think you’ve got the hang of Facebook and Twitter, ...

Sir Richard’s lastest book is right on the money as usual. Love his and VirginUnite’s ‘business can be a force for good philosophy’. Check out http://virginunite.screwbusinessasusual.com/ to get on board with the new wave of business… led by the rebel with a cause himself.
The world is needs business owners to change the way we look at business, ...

http://youtu.be/kZlXWp6vFdE
What more can I say? This video is an oldie but goody… makes me cry! The message is clear folks… it will get tough, but finish what you started and make it to the finish line.

Here’s a tip passed onto me by a client I was working with today, apparently originating with Chester Elton www.chesterelton.com – best selling author and renowned expert on leadership. I guess it speaks for itself, but here’s my interpretation of it:
As a leader you have to be sure your people feel their efforts are being noticed ...

Here’s a top tip from one of New Zealand’s most savvy PR consultants, Bridgette Paton-Tapsell of Village PR and Marketing http://villagepr.co.nz/ :
When you send your news releases to media, don’t be afraid to follow up the journalists with a phone call. Media get bombarded with media releases and sometimes even fantastic stories get shelved for ...

Here’s your mantra for 2012… “I am a deal maker, I will close the sale”. View yourself as a deal maker when you embark on any new business campaign. When you go to a meeting with a prospect, or client you know could spend more with you, think about doing a deal. This means finding ...

It’s easy for small business owners to think sales/income is the key number you need to be focusing on. But actually the key figure is your Gross Profit figure (sales minus cost of sales) and your margin… the % difference between your income and your Gross Profit. You can have millions of dollars of sales ...

I’ve decided to start numbering my business mentoring tips to make sure I get to 100 before I stop. So here’s number tip number 31…
If you know any very successful business people you may have observed something they all have in common… they all continue to educate themselves. I’ll bet you anything, Bill Gates reads ...

FINALLY back from my holidays… 6 weeks in total… where on earth did February go??? So back to posting business tips for all of you who appreciate a daily morsel of practical business advice. This one is a goodie and absolutely crucial if you have a team of people around you.
Rituals are the glue that ...

Now is the time of year for goal setting. I’m a bit late this year… spent too much time on holiday (is there such a thing??). But every year I make sure I’ve got my goals clearly defined and most importantly, written down. There is something so powerful about putting your goals down in writing. I’m ...

Happy New Year to you! I’m still officially on holiday and will be until the end of January (since I promised myself a few years ago that I would set up my businesses and life to allow me to take a month off every January and every July). But I can’t resist checking in and ...

Your business owes you big time. For all your hard work. For the years it hasn’t paid you enough. For the stress it brings you. For the times it’s kept you away from your loved ones. For the extra wrinkles and the few kilos you’ve gained from not having time to go to the gym! ...

Anita Roddick has long since been one of my all time business heros (heroine in her case). I love this quote I found from her:
“Nobody talks about entrepreneurship as survival, but that’s exactly what it is and what nurtures creative thinking. Running that first shop taught me business is not financial science; it’s about trading: ...

Being a business owner can suck sometimes. The stress of being all things to all people, wanting everything to be perfect and feeling like you are the only one who can fix it all… this will make you feel like throwing it all in sometimes. There have been times in my business career when I ...

If you think you might want to sell your business one day (and you should be thinking this way unless you plan to run it from your mobility scooter!), then you need to make sure your potential buyers notice you. The best way to do this is to get talked about. And the best way ...

What did Richard Branson do that worked for him? The key thing is that he did the opposite to whatever the big guys were doing. If they were over charging and under delivering, he found ways to reduce prices and improve experience. If they all seemed to be doing things the same way, with brand ...

I’d like to credit Mike Brunel for this tip. Mike lead the seminar on sales in the liber8yourbusiness online seminar programme. Director of NRS Media (www.nrsmedia.com) and founder of Talking Media Sales, the blog and website for media salespeople www.talkingmediasales.com Mike is a sales guru from way back. He’s also a great teacher. Here’s just one of the 17 ...

One thing that very successful business people have in common is that they’re wealth positive not money negative. By this I mean that they see wealth as a good thing and do not believe to have money is to be greedy. They are not frightened to build a business that makes them phenomenally wealthy. Are ...

I took an former colleague and long time friend with me to the Awards night last Friday. I met Julie Powell in the advertising world and like me she went on to build her own agency and just like me she sold it to the Ogilvy Group and is now helping businesses with her consulting work. ...

Bit of bragging here. My other business, Pet Angels Heavenly Pet Care, just won the Best Use of Technology Award at Her Regional Business Woman of the Year in Wellington. An exciting award for us. As you know I am 100% committed to the belief that businesses must be systemised and automate as much of the ...

You may have noticed from my daily rants that I am a big fan of leverage. The concept of doing more with less in your business. Which fundamentally means that ultimately you do not do the work. I love this picture. It’s a picture of a Queen Bee and I think those are eggs in her head. ...

In another lifetime I studied at length with Robert Kiyosaki at his Global Leadership Forums. One person we studied at length was Buckminster “Bucky” Fuller. American philosopher, systems theorist, architect, and inventor, Bucky created and popularized terms such as “Spaceship Earth“, ephemeralization, and synergetics. For some reason I found myself googling Buckminster Fuller, wanting to ...

Everyone should be familiar with the old 80/20 rule as it seems to apply across most things in life. In business it generally means that 80% of your income comes from 20% of your clients. Or that 80% of your trouble comes from 20% of your clients, which is usually about right…
But I believe there is another ...

Apparently it’s an old Sicilian saying, tied into Mafia Godfather culture – “The fish rots from the head down”. It’s application to business should be obvious. As the owner of your business you are responsible for the culture of your company. When you employ people they look to you for their example of behaviour. If ...

Here’s a generalised principle of life… if you are in business you have to be able to sell. You cannot avoid it.
Simple business definition:
Business is about making money by selling something you have to someone else who you can convince to buy it.
It doesn’t matter how big the business is, or how sophisticated the product or ...

Here’s a business truth. In the lifetime of your business you will fail at something important. This could be hiring the wrong person. Choosing the wrong direction. Trusting a client who rips you off. Or just trusting your own judgement. And your failure will cost you money. You cannot be in business and get it ...

Once you have painted a clear end picture for you business, have a clear exit strategy in mind and have put in some key milestones to get there, its time to plan your action steps to the first milestone. This should be 12 – 18 months out from today. Your 12 month plan should have ...

Once you’ve put a clear vision in place for where your business is going and how it is going to feed you wealth in the future… plan backards from there using key milestones. What are the goals you need to hit along the way? Turnover goals, profit goals, client goals, staff goals… write down the ...

Your brand is one of the most critical factors when it comes to increasing the value of your business. Brand is a much misunderstood concept for many small business owner operators. It’s not a logo or a pretty business card. It is the essence of what your business stands for. And it is what someone ...

A business should have a higher purpose … to make a difference in the world as well as to make money. You only have to look at what Richard Branson does through Virgin Unite www.virginunite.com to see that social responsibility is critical in today’s business world.
How is your business making a difference?
From the desk of ...

Decide now what your wealth goal is from your business. Are you going to sell it? If so for how much and when? Are you going to derive passive income from it? If so how much per annum and when? Write it down. Then work out how you will get there (The liber8yourbusiness programme can ...

Your budget is your single most powerful monthly planning tool. Map your projections out for the year based on the profit you need to make, the turnover, cost of sales and expenses required to meet that profit goal. Have actuals and budget columns to measure yourself against each month.
There is a whole seminar in the ...

There are only three ways to drive wealth from your business:
1. Make it so valuable you can sell it
2. Build it so that it will deliver profits without YOU
3. Develop it so that it generates great profits you can withdraw as you go… and re-invest that money elsewhere
The liber8yourbusiness Online programme teaches how you to ...

Do you know where your business is going? Have you thought about how it will eventually pay you back for all your hard work? Or like so many small business owners are you working long hours, paying yourself too little, sacrificing holidays and time with your family with no long term goal in sight?
Start with ...

I met a very cool lady at a Venus Network meeting last week, and then saw her win an award at the Bright Ideas Gala evening in Wellington, then again in today’s Dominion Post: http://www.stuff.co.nz/dominion-post/business/5918966/Bright-Idea-winner-helps-heal-tattoos
Gillian Parkinson is an aromatologist, using essential oils to treat all sorts of conditions. But unlike many owner operators with specialist talents, ...

Sir Richard Branson has long been a hero of mine and so it was a great pleasure to see him live in Melbourne at the 21st Century Financial Education Summit last night. What a lovely man and how humble and approachable. He spoke about many facets of his life and business career and always with ...

Having been interested in an article recently posted on Facebook about the lack of women seeking and gaining investment capital, I feel inspired to make a commentary on some characteristics that can both make and break women in business. I’ve coined the phrase ‘womentrepreneurs’ as merging words to make new ones is such a trend these days (think Brangelina and the ...

I remember a conversation I had with my friend Melissa Clark Reynolds many years ago. She probably won’t even remember it. We were standing in the changing room of the local swimming pool centre at the time. Melissa had just sold her first business to Southern Cross and I was still mid way into the ...

I see many different businesses through my line of work, mostly are owner operators building businesses they hope one day to exit, either by selling it or creating leverage to enable the business to continue without them being there. Moving past the owner operator stage can be tricky, especially if you have built a business ...

Don’t you love it when you love what you do? I’m on day 5 of a coffee detox so I had to get my high today from other sources today. It came in the form of a 4 hour business mentoring session with a group of people with a brilliant start up idea. Five individuals are involved and they bought me in for a ...

My lovely client Bridgette (from Village PR in Tauranga) told me the funniest story about a tennis game she played in Fiji recently. The parallels to and lessons about business were clearly apparent to us both so I just have to share it…
Bridgette it turns out is a bit of a gun tennis player, or at least ...

Reading Tim Ferriss The 4-Hour Work Week at the moment. Am about to adopt one piece of advice as of Monday. As Tim points out email is the greatest single interruption in the modern world. How many times have you sat down with your to do list for the day only to find its midday ...

Let’s recap. You have attracted a potential buyer with your unique offering, your powerful brand and your fantastic reputation in your industry. They have looked at your books and can see the locked in future earning potential of your business. (By the way, I’m not listing it as a key ingredient for getting a premium ...

In the business world, clients mean money. Have no doubt, a buyer will pay a premium for what they perceive is more money. A buyer will look at your clients and ascertain the value of your business to them on the basis of the average spend and longevity of your clients. They will look to ...

If you are serious about selling your business, one of the goals you should have clearly marked in your business plan is ‘locked in’ forward revenues. This is money that is committed to the business for a reasonable period into the future. Of course a buyer will look at your track record and your turnover ...

A buyer with money in their pocket will come to you when you have attracted their attention. You will need to be big enough and credible enough and they will have seen your business making waves in all the right pools for your industry.
You are always a nobody until you are a somebody. So you ...

A buyer wants a great business and they will look at many different aspects of your business as part of their due diligence. The product you sell is only one of these things, but it is important. Here are four ways to develop your product to give it more value to your marketplace and by default ...

You can get the full version of my report on this subject at www.liber8yourbusiness.com. But here’s the first of my 7 tips for building a business a buyer will pay a premium for.
# 1. Build a powerful brand. I am a mad believer in the power of a brand. One thing that can make you ...

Had a very enjoyable coffee with Jim Donovan last week. Luckily for liber8yourbusiness members, Jim has agreed for me to interview him for the liber8yourbusiness online seminar room. Here’s a sneak preview of what makes a successful business according to Jim.
Firstly though, a quick bio on Jim… a long and stellar career I could go ...

One of my favourite business mentoring tips is to plan your business as if you were NASA planning to put a man on the moon. This is what I learned to do at the 1991 Accelerated Business School for Entrepreneurs with Robert Kiyosaki in Hawaii. The teacher was Blair Singer and the business planning technique ...

I thoroughly enjoyed my day and night in Christchurch this week. As well as being very thankful that I had a lovely night sleep with no after shocks (I had been warned and briefed on what to do by nearly everyone I met), it was rewarding as ever to spend time with smart, passionate business women who ...

I love it when I go to teach and discover something I can use in my own life or business. This happens to me all the time when I’m mentoring, speaking, or holding a workshop as I did in Palmerston North last Wednesday. It was a half day workshop on preparing an effective annual business plan. As ...

I’m quoting an interview I did with Rod Drury when I write this headline… he was referring to the most famous and fabulous stories of mind blowing business success we know so well. Sam Morgan – from student looking for heater to warm his drafty Wellington flat to $700 million sale of Trademe. Mark Zuckerberg ...

Had coffee today with a partner at PWC and we got to talking about what makes a successful business. I gave him the benefit of all of my own well aired opinions on business… vision, planned exit, build to sell, leverage etc etc. “It’s not rocket science,” I blurted. “Lets face it if I can ...

More from my night at the Institute of Directors, this time my notes from Matt Kenealy. Matt was a co-founder of Axon Computer Systems in 1986. He was the majority shareholder when it sold to Integral Technology Group in May 2010. Here are my out takes from Matt’s 5 minute talk. As always with the disclaimer ...

Further to my last blog, I presented my five minute spiel at the Institute of Directors First Boards meeting a few nights ago. I was lucky enough to be on a panel with two very impressive men, both having worked with external Directors to see their businesses through to very successful exit (sale). It was a ...

Just been working on a talk I am giving this Wednesday on an entrepreneur’s perspective of the role of a Board of Directors. I only have 5 minutes to speak so has been a very good exercise in making it short but real. So here it is… you can have a sneak preview of my ...

Crikey! Where has time gone? It’s March already and the end of the business financial year for most of us. I’ll be nagging my liber8yourbusiness clients about their business plan for 2011 – 12 year. As Winston Churchill famously said, “fail to plan and you plan to fail”. Your business plan is your compass, your ...

Why do people get into business for themselves? When I present to business groups I often ask people why they decided to start a business. The answers are always the same. To be my own boss/to be free to choose how I work/I’m good at what I do… so why should I line someone else’s ...

Here’s the final of my 10 Traits of the Rich & Free (have a look under categories Traits of the Rich & Free if you want to see the other 9 again). This is my favourite trait and the one which I believe makes the fundamental difference between fly by night would be entrepreneurs, speculators ...

Having a good relationship with money and believing in your right to be wealthy are critical factors for very successful entrepreneurs. Business is about wealth creation. It is about building an asset that will ultimately feed you passive income, either when you sell and are able to wisely invest the capital gained… or by building a ...

How successful is your business really? Here’s my definition:
A successful business is defined by the number of days forward it could survive without YOU working.
Think about it. How can you increase this number? I’ll be blogging some tips soon.

Had another great Q&A Skype session with a small group of clients on Friday. It is very pleasurable to be able to facilitate business people in good healthy discussion about some of their business issues. This week the group talked at length with the owner of an accounting franchise who found herself with an unhelpful ...

The world’s most successful people are failures! It’s true. You can bet your bottom dollar that any successful, wealthy business person you can think of has failed at something in a spectacular way. You cannot go through life without failing, unless of course you never try anything. In business you will fail in some way. ...

Lovely interview with Hans Schuitman of Shape Technology in DomPost today. The introduction of robotics to his technology company has increased productivity by 80% in 12 months. But rather than replacing human beings, robots have created a 15% increase in his 90 strong workforce.
This is a 14 year old company that has embraced technology to ...

There is no doubt that you have to be determined to succeed in business, or indeed in any field of endeavour. You have to believe in your ability to succeed and just keep on going. In previous traits we discussed the need to have a vision, goals, plan and the willingness to take action. In ...

I ran a Q & A Skype session with a few of my liber8yourbusiness clients the other day. I thoroughly enjoyed it and thought I’d share a couple of the key questions and the answers discussed. One was around the right time to enlist help with admin when cashflow is tight. The answer actually came ...

This trait speaks for itself. The world’s most successful people do not just have a vision, clear goals and a plan… they take action. Very successful people do not tend to have a problem getting up in the morning. They do not sit around waiting for fortune to land in their lap. They know that ...

It gave me great joy to read about Bill Gates today, giving an exclusive interview to James Quinn of The Telegraph about his committment to giving to the developing world. Mr Gates is the second richest man in the world with a fortune of US$53 billion. Having spent 30 years of his life building Microsoft, ...

As I talk to very successful business people, their traits continue to share a common thread. I listed the 10 traits they seem to share in a previous blog and promised to cover each one in turn. I’ve talked about ‘vision’ already. Now for Trait Number 2: Passion. The world’s most successful business people unsurprisingly ...

I went to see Debbie Allen speak a the National Speakers Association event last night in Wellington. A very impressive lady with some great tips to share. Not only is Debbie in the top 5% of motivational speakers, she has also bought and sold 7 businesses. This got my attention, a true entrepreneur living a ...

In my quest to find great role models for my liber8yourbusiness programme, I’ve found myself talking to all sorts of very successful business people lately. A number of things strike me. One is that successful people seem to be very generous with their time. People with more zeros in their bank balance than I’d care ...